Motivation + Is this grammar correct?

Hello fellow Crabigator acolytes!

I want to share what I’ve been doing to motivate myself to learn Japanese / lose weight / stop laziness / improve my life overall. And also I want to ask around to make sure that I’m saying this one phrase correctly.

Backstory

I went to college to become a teacher, and I studied Japanese just for an elective. I ended up doing it for two semesters and I had an absolute blast. It was honestly my most fun class in college, but I had to stop to meet the tough demands that teaching would place on me. Now in 2018, I’m no longer a teacher and I’m actually going back to learning Japanese because of how much fun I had.

Recently, I was reading a book about business, and the author mentioned that he has a silver bracelet with a personal message on it that he refers to as his “wealth talisman”. “How cool,” I thought. “Perhaps I should get one of my own? Hmm… but what should it say…” And then the answer popped into my head: “kyou de wa nai”, which I think means “not today”.

How this motivates me

Our days are filled to the brim with opportunities to make decisions, and it’s up to us to make the right decision. Making decisions, though, is hard on our brains, and if we have to make too many decisions throughout the day we can become mentally exhausted and do bad things. So the best thing to do is to reduce the energy required to make good decisions. This is where my motivation comes in:

  • “Can I take the day off?” “Not today.”
  • “I want to be lazy.” “Kyou de wa nai.”
  • “I want to overeat.” “No, not today.”
  • “Some clutter is building on my desk, is that okay?” “Kyou de wa nai.”

This helps me because:

  1. it shortcuts my brain toward making the right decision (i.e. saying “no” to a bad idea), and
  2. it reminds me of my current major definite purpose, which is to learn Japanese.

Additionally, I have this written in the place where the most damage happens (the kitchen) and where I do my Japanese study (my bedroom). So far, it’s been incredibly helpful to me at both locations to overcome laziness et al…

Am I saying this correctly?

If you wanted to reply “not today” to a question that someone asks you, how would you say it in Japanese? I first thought it was 「今日ない。」, but after researching a bit I now think it’s 「今日ではない。」, but I’m still not sure because I’m still learning Japanese. Does anyone know the correct grammar on this?

Thank you! I hope my quick story helps those Crabigator acolytes who sometimes struggle with making good decisions in their day! If you have a similar motivation / decision making technique, I would love to hear it.

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yeah, it’s correct

I think in most cases 今日はダメです would be more appropriate.

For example:
“Can I take the day off?” “Not today."
→「今日休んでいいですか?」「今日はダメです。」
“I want to be lazy.” “Not today.”
→「今日はダラダラしたい。」「今日はダメです。」
“I want to overeat.” “No, not today.”
→「今日は大食いしたい。」「今日はダメです。」

If you’re thinking “not today” as in stating that you’re not doing something today, then I would use 今日はnegative verb.

“Are you going to school today?” “Not today.”
→「今日は学校に行きますか?」「今日は行きません。」
“Did you bring a pencil today?” “Not today.”
→「今日は鉛筆を持ってきましたか?」「今日は持ってきませんでした。」

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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your sentence isn’t wrong, but that’s not something i’d put on accessories.
今日ではない fits well.

What do you mean by “accessories?” And I don’t think 今日ではない fits well in the examples OP provided.

I think 今日ではない is more appropriate for situations like
“Is the field day today?” “It’s not today.”
→「運動会は今日か?」「今日ではない。」

And 今日ない is more appropriate for situations like
“Do we have practice today?” “Not today.”
→「今日練習ある?」「今日(は)ない。」

Also, in your original post, you didn’t specify whether you thought 今日ではない or 今日ない was correct. It could have been interpreted either way.

Does tomorrow ever come? :open_mouth:

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Does tomorrow ever come? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Never. But for some people, tomorrow is the busiest day of the week!

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